Traditional And Modern Variations,

Launched in 1932,Fortnightly Analect was a journal of popular culture in Shanghai. It was characterized by the advocacy of the culture of humour,its tenets were"No talking about revolution","Economic Independence"and"preserving individuality".Fortnightly Analect was sponsored by the literati,some of whom were Lin Yutang,Shao Xunmei,Li Qingya,Quan Zenggu,Shen Youqian,Lin Huiyin,Pan Guangdan,Ye Gongchao et al. Its chief editor was Lin Yutang,Tao Kangde,Yu Dafu,Shao Xunmei,Lin Dazu,Li Qingya,Ming Yaowu orderly. The Publication of Fortnightly Analect was divided into two periods by the outbreak of the Lougouqiao incident on July 7th 1937. From its resumed publication after China's Resistance War Against Japan to its final publication on May 16 1949,Fortnightly Analect lasted ten years and published one hundred seventy-seven. It not only put forward the unique slogan of the taboos of Fortnightly Analect leaguers,but also gave prominence to the culture of humour and completely changed the prejudice that humour did not appeal to refined taste and the folk humourous pattern in our traditional society. Oriented as the civil popular journal, It selected the works from all classes of our country,citizen classes in the cities made up the majority of readers. Not only was it a broad contribution source,rich content,but also it was unique in the cover design and column arrangement eds. Depending on Times Printing,it integrated publishing,printing and distribution into one body,so it reduced considerably the costs. Because of the low price and high sales volume,it had a great influence on the society.Although the advocacy of"No talking about revolution"politically,Fortnightly Analect made a bitter sarcasm and criticism to the ethical politics,symbolic ritual politics and bureaucracy of Nanjing National Government. However,those criticisms are ones within system and well-intentioned. Generally speaking,the editors still recognized the orthodox position of the National Government. Culturally, they held that the Sino-Western cultural communication not only select the essence of all countries'cultures,but also preserve the national cultural characteristics,and on the basis of translating and disseminating the foreign literary works,attentions should be paid to folk culture,thus consistently reflecting cultural personality of common people. In Women's Life,the editors thought that tradition should be revived properly,women should be encouraged virtuous and kind as beauty,attach importance to chastity,take a serious and cautious attitude towards the marriage and sexual relations,and maintain the family harmony and stability. According to all of those,the aims were to restore Chinese traditional view of marriage and the positive factors of sex morality,realize the reflection on the advocacy of the individuality liberation and the emancipation of women since the May 4th New Culture Movement of 1919,and provide the correct ethical values for China's modernization drive.Fortnightly Analect was a broad arena for the literati such as Lin Yutang,Shao Xunmei to publicize political views,the cultural concept and life idea,which fully unfolded the transformation of the literati from tradition to modern."Becoming one bridge between Chinese culture and western culture,writing more articles about human life and social history",which is is generalized as Lin Yutang himself,concisely revealed their ideals of the marginal men that were in a marginal position in times and culture. Both in tradition and out of tradition,they not only stepped into the modern door,but uncompletely fall into modern arms,so the awkward position made them suffering and struggling in the depth of their hearts. They were not only advocacy of"No talking about politics"but continuously challenged governmental yardstick of press censorship;they not only revived tradition but communicated Chinese culture;they not only supported the emancipation of women but paid attention to chastity;they not only publicized their sublime ideals but emphasized the real economic interests,all of which were manifested in their deeds that the opinion on anything was a tremendous contradiction.Fortnightly Analect was a window for exploring the transformation of the Republic of China again. The reasons are as follows: first,as a late modernization country with stimulation from the outside world,China was in an unavoidable dilemma in the progress of the political modernization. Not only did it carry out the political reform in modernization,but also not lose the controlling power of regime in political forces and social resources. Those made the regime construction in the contradictory state. Not only did they make use of the traditional political resources to strengthen the controlling power over the politics,but also were in an effort to build a modern country of democracy and legal system so as to cause the paradox of the regime construction in the Republic of China,therefore the National Government was always obsessed with the paradox. Second,there were changes in the modernization of people's life-styles in the Republic of China. The inrush of the living habits and the idea abroad came into collision with the native culture and customs,which formed modern scenes of life. Chinese living habits was occidentalized increasingly,especially the urban women's life and ideals. However,the traditional folk customs remained in effect,which manifested Chinese culture the strong vitality. Third,the modern Chinese media,whose development trends were characterized increasingly as popularization,secularization and socialization,changed the tradition of the feudal orthodox culture and elite culture.As a journal of popular culture in the Republic of China,Fortnightly Analect always remained a petty bourgeoisie taste,and paid attention to social problems and the life of the average citizens. The editors kept good relations of exchange and communication with readers in order to liberate culture communication from the privileged strata and gradually enter into the popular life. The generalization of the status of creative literary writers, marketization of literary dissemination, and popularization of literary receivers constituted unprecedented changes in the modern Chinese media.The combination with at all times and in all countries in the era of the Chinese Republic gave birth to Fortnightly Analect,while it was involved in the transformation from tradition to modern with the lively style of the culture of humour. Its characteristics of humour and the course of traditional literati in the National Government of Nanjing make us enjoy in retrospect so far.